On August 4, 2025, the Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Dementia Project held its first advisory board meeting, titled “The Future of Dementia Policies Surrounding Families and Others Caring for People Living with Dementia.”

This meeting included people with firsthand experience in caregiving and experts from various fields including healthcare, long-term care, welfare, research, and media. Taking the “new perception of dementia” into account, participants held a multifaceted discussion on how to best structure support for family caregivers and others providing care for people living with dementia.

In response to the enactment of the Basic Act on Dementia to Promote an Inclusive Society, we must now build support systems that uphold the dignity of people living with dementia and their families and that enable them to continue living in communities that are familiar to them. However, there are lingering challenges facing systems and support for caregivers, and families and other affected parties continue to experience heavy care burdens and severe impacts on social life, physical health, and mental health. In addition, people living with dementia experience and their families or other caregivers have mutual effects on each other’s physical and mental health, so forms of support that take the life courses of all parties into account are needed.

After considering the ideal structure of support for family members, care professionals, and other caregivers of people living with dementia from many angles and with people living with dementia at the center, this advisory board will compile policy recommendations on making society a place where people living with dementia and their families can lead robust lives together.

[Event Overview]

• Date & Time: Monday, August 4, 2025; 17:00-19:00 JST
• Format: Hybrid (In-Person and Online (Zoom Meeting))

Advisory Board Members (titles omitted; in Japanese syllabary order)

Mieko Inoue (Chairperson, Machida City Dementia Friendship Association)
Syouzo Ohkouchi (Chief Long-Term Care Support Specialist and Care Creator, Social Welfare Corporation Yotsubakai)
Ryo Kato (Executive Assistant, Health Policy and External Affairs Division and Manager, Public Affairs Department, Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd.)
Hajime Takachi (Professor, Department of Dementia and Geriatric Medicine, School of Medicine, Fujita Health University)
Kiyoyuki Tomita (Global AD Value & Access and Patient Advocacy Lead, Eisai Co., Ltd.)
Yosuke Nakayama (Director, Planning and Health Policy Department, Corporate Affairs Division, Eli Lilly Japan K.K.)
Yuko Matsuura (Journalist, Digital News Planning and Reporting Section, Editorial Department, The Asahi Shimbun; Former Editor-in-Chief, the Nakamaaru Site for Dementia, The Asahi Shimbun Company)
Yoshihiro Mitsuhashi (Board Member, Alzheimer’s Association Japan (AAJ); Deputy Representative, AAJ Kanagawa Prefecture Branch)
Naoki Mori (Medical Affairs Department, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
Miyae Yamakawa (Associate Professor, Department of Geriatric Nursing, University of Osaka Graduate School of Medicine)
Tomoko Wakui (Researcher, Welfare and Lifestyle Care Research Team, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Geriatrics and Gerontology)